by Ian Alexander
One of the more rewarding parts of my job is working with clients to develop applicant tracking case studies. As a vendor, it’s always a delicate balancing act as you try to put your best foot forward, yet still provide prospective clients with valuable information that will help them as they evaluate your product.
The reason it’s rewarding is because of the people you meet and the stories they relay about the value of your product.
I had the pleasure of interviewing a client from Osram Sylvania this week in preparation for a case study that will be released in August. Even though we support many large companies (American Standard at 60K employees, Manpower Direct Hire at 250 recruiters serving 17,000 accounts), SonicRecruit targets mid-sized employers. At 11,000 employees at 26 locations, Osram Sylvania is a good-sized company in our “mid-sized” customer base.
The Sylvania story is gratifying because SonicRecruit was chosen over virtually every top-tier talent acquisition system. And price was a big factor in the decision. In a lot of ways, Sylvania is a perfect model of our target client. They are just big enough to need serious functionality and lots of configuration. Yet, the price charged by many other vendors is not only prohibitive for companies like this, but it’s a bit ridiculous because the functionality is equal to, and often less robust than SonicRecruit.
Our client had some great insights in this regard. First, she was skeptical that we could deliver the level of service and configuration they needed at the price (keep in mind that price is relative. The installation represented a large investment by the client).
Second, she believes that companies can get carried away with the minutia of the selection process. Her recipe for success in selecting ATS vendors is to look at the newness of their technology and their ability to customize/configure.
This makes a lot of sense. Old technology is often harder and more expensive to configure and customize. So in the end, she believed that SonicRecruit’s newer technology and application level flexibility turned her from a skeptic, to a “lunatic fan.”
It’s a good thing to keep in mind when shopping. Old technology and lots of customization can equal long and expensive implementations. When you compare prices, often times the expense does not equal the value. You may be paying more to get old technology tailored to your needs.
Our client went so far as to say people are deluding themselves if they think more expensive means better. As a marketer, I love this because our current ad campaign makes light of this very fact (exhaustion ad / peer pressure ad). It’s nice when you get what Oprah calls a “full circle moment” and your ad campaign so perfectly aligns with your user experience.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Cytiva Opens New Offices in Petaluma, California – Birthplace of Performance Management Software
Talent Management Software Developer Uses Flexibility and Virtual Infrastructure to Source Talent
VANCOUVER, BC – July 10, 2007 – Cytiva Software Inc. (CRX:TSX.V), a leading provider of on-demand talent management software solutions, announced today the opening of new offices in Petaluma, California.
Petaluma became the de facto birthplace of employee performance management software after Petaluma software developer KnowledgePoint launched what is arguably the first commercial application for evaluating and tracking employee performance in 1994. After years of success at the leading edge of human resource management software, KnowledgePoint was sold in 2004 and has subsequently been absorbed into another corporation.
But for a company like Cytiva, who recently announced its intention to add performance management software to its suite of talent management software solutions, a location like Petaluma represents fertile ground for acquiring the kind of talent needed to develop future generations of employee performance management applications.
This practice of ”going where the talent is” is nothing new to Cytiva and may be a key component in their rapid growth. In addition to the new Petaluma location, Cytiva has offices in Vancouver, B.C., Emeryville , Ca. and sales offices across the country. The company has more than doubled in size in the last year and it attributes much of its success to its virtual culture and willingness to accommodate talented employees.
“When I tell our clients that their employees are their main competitive advantage, I truly believe it,” said Jason Moreau, CEO of Cytiva. “When we began to develop a core group of individuals in the Petaluma area that could help us deliver world class talent management applications, better and faster than our competition, opening an office there became an easy decision.”
Moreau credits Cytiva’s virtual infrastructure with making it easy to manage a dispersed, fast growing enterprise. From a virtual PBX to Internet-based, on-demand customer relationship management tools to their online meeting infrastructure, Cytiva has been built from the ground up as a virtual company.
“Our SonicRecruit on-demand applicant tracking software provides companies with anywhere, anytime access to world-class talent acquisition technology,” says Moreau. “We use this same anywhere, anytime philosophy in our own work culture to gain a huge recruiting and performance advantage.”
The new offices are located at 850 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma, CA 94954.
About Cytiva Software Inc. Cytiva Software Inc. (CRX:TSX.V) provides innovative software and services to help mid-sized and Fortune 500 companies hire, manage and maximize their talent. Its flagship talent acquisition product, SonicRecruit, allows corporations to screen applicants, automate their recruiting departments, customize their corporate career sites and hire great people. This premier applicant tracking system improves recruiting effectiveness, speeding up the hiring process and reducing cost per hire. Over 170 organizations use SonicRecruit, including Coca Cola Bottlers, American Standard, Restoration Hardware, NetFlix and more. For more information, visit http://www.sonicrecruit.com
CONTACT:
Ian Alexander
mediarelations@sonicrecruit.com
510-984-1986
The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this news release, which has been prepared by management.
Forward-looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements related to the future financial condition and results of operations of Cytiva. These statements are based on current expectations and estimates about the human resources markets in which Cytiva operates and management's beliefs and assumptions regarding these markets. These statements are subject to important risks and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and assumptions which may prove to be inaccurate. Some of the factors which could cause results or events to differ materially from current expectations include but are not limited to: general economic conditions, market or business conditions; changing competitive environment; changing regulatory conditions or requirements; changing technology; and success in implementing productivity initiatives. Some of these factors are largely beyond the control of Cytiva. Should any factor impact Cytiva in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. All of the forward-looking statements made in this document are qualified by these cautionary statements, and there can be no assurance that the results or developments anticipated by Cytiva will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences for Cytiva. Readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Further, Cytiva disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or any other occurrence.
VANCOUVER, BC – July 10, 2007 – Cytiva Software Inc. (CRX:TSX.V), a leading provider of on-demand talent management software solutions, announced today the opening of new offices in Petaluma, California.
Petaluma became the de facto birthplace of employee performance management software after Petaluma software developer KnowledgePoint launched what is arguably the first commercial application for evaluating and tracking employee performance in 1994. After years of success at the leading edge of human resource management software, KnowledgePoint was sold in 2004 and has subsequently been absorbed into another corporation.
But for a company like Cytiva, who recently announced its intention to add performance management software to its suite of talent management software solutions, a location like Petaluma represents fertile ground for acquiring the kind of talent needed to develop future generations of employee performance management applications.
This practice of ”going where the talent is” is nothing new to Cytiva and may be a key component in their rapid growth. In addition to the new Petaluma location, Cytiva has offices in Vancouver, B.C., Emeryville , Ca. and sales offices across the country. The company has more than doubled in size in the last year and it attributes much of its success to its virtual culture and willingness to accommodate talented employees.
“When I tell our clients that their employees are their main competitive advantage, I truly believe it,” said Jason Moreau, CEO of Cytiva. “When we began to develop a core group of individuals in the Petaluma area that could help us deliver world class talent management applications, better and faster than our competition, opening an office there became an easy decision.”
Moreau credits Cytiva’s virtual infrastructure with making it easy to manage a dispersed, fast growing enterprise. From a virtual PBX to Internet-based, on-demand customer relationship management tools to their online meeting infrastructure, Cytiva has been built from the ground up as a virtual company.
“Our SonicRecruit on-demand applicant tracking software provides companies with anywhere, anytime access to world-class talent acquisition technology,” says Moreau. “We use this same anywhere, anytime philosophy in our own work culture to gain a huge recruiting and performance advantage.”
The new offices are located at 850 Petaluma Blvd. North, Petaluma, CA 94954.
About Cytiva Software Inc. Cytiva Software Inc. (CRX:TSX.V) provides innovative software and services to help mid-sized and Fortune 500 companies hire, manage and maximize their talent. Its flagship talent acquisition product, SonicRecruit, allows corporations to screen applicants, automate their recruiting departments, customize their corporate career sites and hire great people. This premier applicant tracking system improves recruiting effectiveness, speeding up the hiring process and reducing cost per hire. Over 170 organizations use SonicRecruit, including Coca Cola Bottlers, American Standard, Restoration Hardware, NetFlix and more. For more information, visit http://www.sonicrecruit.com
CONTACT:
Ian Alexander
mediarelations@sonicrecruit.com
510-984-1986
The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this news release, which has been prepared by management.
Forward-looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements related to the future financial condition and results of operations of Cytiva. These statements are based on current expectations and estimates about the human resources markets in which Cytiva operates and management's beliefs and assumptions regarding these markets. These statements are subject to important risks and uncertainties which are difficult to predict and assumptions which may prove to be inaccurate. Some of the factors which could cause results or events to differ materially from current expectations include but are not limited to: general economic conditions, market or business conditions; changing competitive environment; changing regulatory conditions or requirements; changing technology; and success in implementing productivity initiatives. Some of these factors are largely beyond the control of Cytiva. Should any factor impact Cytiva in an unexpected manner, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, the actual results or events may differ materially from the results or events predicted. All of the forward-looking statements made in this document are qualified by these cautionary statements, and there can be no assurance that the results or developments anticipated by Cytiva will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences for Cytiva. Readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Further, Cytiva disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or any other occurrence.
Just What is Cytiva and What Have You Done With SonicRecruit?
By Jason Moreau
Founder and CEO
The last year has been crazy for the makers of SonicRecruit. We've branched out from applicant tracking into onboarding and we will soon launch an employee performance management application.
Until recently, Cytiva has done business as SonicRecruit, the name of its popular applicant tracking system. This was fine and even advantageous when all we did was ATS. However, with SonicLaunch onboarding and the upcoming SonicPerform performance management application, SonicRecruit is just one of the applications in our suite and it doesn't make sense to continue to do business as SonicRecruit.
For those not familiar with the history of Cytiva/SonicRecruit, it started in 1995 as CareerExchange Interactive, an online job board. As clients struggled to manage the increasing number of resumes generated from CareerExchange and other job boards, the company developed the SonicRecruit applicant tracking system. SonicRecruit became quite popular and began to become the flagship offering of the company. Around the same time, rights to the name CareerExchange were challenged by a regional company using a similar name. Thus, CareerExchange was renamed Cytiva DBA (doing business as) SonicRecruit and over time, the job board was divested.
Despite the concentration on our corporate name over our product name, it's still the same company. Canadian Cytiva and its U.S. subsidiary Cytiva Software Inc. serve over 170 clients. The vast majority of our clients and our employees are in the U.S.
We look forward to carrying the SonicRecruit brand forward under the Cytiva name and continuing to build great products for the clients we value so much.
Founder and CEO
The last year has been crazy for the makers of SonicRecruit. We've branched out from applicant tracking into onboarding and we will soon launch an employee performance management application.
Until recently, Cytiva has done business as SonicRecruit, the name of its popular applicant tracking system. This was fine and even advantageous when all we did was ATS. However, with SonicLaunch onboarding and the upcoming SonicPerform performance management application, SonicRecruit is just one of the applications in our suite and it doesn't make sense to continue to do business as SonicRecruit.
For those not familiar with the history of Cytiva/SonicRecruit, it started in 1995 as CareerExchange Interactive, an online job board. As clients struggled to manage the increasing number of resumes generated from CareerExchange and other job boards, the company developed the SonicRecruit applicant tracking system. SonicRecruit became quite popular and began to become the flagship offering of the company. Around the same time, rights to the name CareerExchange were challenged by a regional company using a similar name. Thus, CareerExchange was renamed Cytiva DBA (doing business as) SonicRecruit and over time, the job board was divested.
Despite the concentration on our corporate name over our product name, it's still the same company. Canadian Cytiva and its U.S. subsidiary Cytiva Software Inc. serve over 170 clients. The vast majority of our clients and our employees are in the U.S.
We look forward to carrying the SonicRecruit brand forward under the Cytiva name and continuing to build great products for the clients we value so much.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
The Future of HR Technology at SHRM Conference
By Ian Alexander
VP Marketing
Cytiva
While at the 59th annual SHRM Conference and Exposition this June, I sat in on a well attended session called "Top Trends in HR Technology for 2007." As someone who has made his living in HR technology for the last 14 years, I was interested in the topic and actually pleased to see this kind of content at the SHRM conference (which is not known for its cutting edge technology focus).
The speaker, John Ryder, made some important observations. And despite my differences, I think he did a great service to the SHRM membership who needs this kind of content at their conferences.
His first point was talent management suites are the hottest thing in HR right now. However, he cautioned that, despite loud vendor claims to the contrary, the market is very immature and no vendors truly have viable applications across the spectrum of talent management (arguably, recruiting, onboarding, performance management, employee development/elearning, compensation, workforce planning and offboarding).
This is an important point.
He further stated that there has been, and will continue to be, consolidation in the marketplace resulting in vendors being absorbed and/or ceasing to be. This is another valid point. Yet it set the tone for a session that repeatedly warned HR professionals to be very cautious about investing in talent management in the near term.
He went on to talk about service oriented architecture (SOA) being the new frontier of HR apps and he talked about the exciting possibilities of "ground-up" SOA applications like Workday, which ostensibly will enable rapid development, integration, extension and enhancement of HR applications. He talked of all the major ERP providers converting their apps to SOA within the next 24-36 months.
He went on to advise his audience that having an "all-in-one HRIS and talent management suite" would be more beneficial than having separate applications-- even if the functionality was inferior. He inferred the integration of separate solutions is extremely problematic.
So if I didn't know anything about HR technology and I sat in on this presentation my take-away would be "be very careful about implementing TM enabling applications. Wait until your ERP provider comes out with something and don't worry if it isn't as good as solutions by TM vendors who have been at it far longer than their ERP counterparts.”
This is where he lost me.
First of all, despite the relative risk of being an early adopter of talent management applications, the last thing HR needs to do at this point is sit back and NOT begin talent management application adoption. The benefits are clear, technology is a critical enabler and waiting makes no sense. That's what the SHRM audience needed to hear. The whole tone of the conference was trying to get HR out of the past and into the future.
Is it risky? A little. Yes, vendors may get absorbed or go out of business, but this has been the case for a dozen years in HR technology. With on-demand delivery, today your investment is lower up front, and if you need to switch, you will not have invested in perpetual licensing of an in-house system. This is the best time in years to begin implementing talent management technology, and simple, basic due diligence nearly negates any risk.
As for waiting for your HRIS vendor to convert to SOA and roll out new talent management apps so you can reap the benefits of native integration, HR needs to decide what their key drivers are and proceed accordingly. At the end of his talk, the speaker told his audience that they need to stop thinking of technology expenditures as "cost saving" and begin to sell them internally as "enhancing workforce effectiveness." This was the best point of the presentation.
However, if your drivers are to implement enabling technologies that will deliver a more effective workforce, what sense does it make to settle for clumsy solutions from vendors with little to no front office application expertise, and whose entire businesses are built on the premise of cost reduction? The mixed message is: Enhance your workforce, but make ease of data integration your key driver.
As for integration, the very nature of SOA can make it easier for companies to mix and match best of breed apps and tie them together through web services and XML. The nightmare of integrating HRIS and other apps has been hugely diminished in the last few years with the implementation of XML-based web services integrations. It simply isn't that problematic anymore.
At Cytiva / SonicRecruit, we facilitate these integrations routinely. We also have clients and prospective clients who succumb to the notion that they must use the recruiting module from their HRIS vendor in order to either ensure data integration or "get the most out of their existing relationship." I have not spoken to one HR professional who has gone with their HRIS' recruiting module over a best of breed vendor who had either an easy time or good results.
We had one client leave us and then come back when their resume flow diminished by 90% after implementing an Oracle recruiting solution. That's how bad the candidate interface was.
So while there is risk in purchasing talent management enabling technology, I would argue that you are at much greater risk purchasing from HRIS vendors with data integrity being your key driver.
VP Marketing
Cytiva
While at the 59th annual SHRM Conference and Exposition this June, I sat in on a well attended session called "Top Trends in HR Technology for 2007." As someone who has made his living in HR technology for the last 14 years, I was interested in the topic and actually pleased to see this kind of content at the SHRM conference (which is not known for its cutting edge technology focus).
The speaker, John Ryder, made some important observations. And despite my differences, I think he did a great service to the SHRM membership who needs this kind of content at their conferences.
His first point was talent management suites are the hottest thing in HR right now. However, he cautioned that, despite loud vendor claims to the contrary, the market is very immature and no vendors truly have viable applications across the spectrum of talent management (arguably, recruiting, onboarding, performance management, employee development/elearning, compensation, workforce planning and offboarding).
This is an important point.
He further stated that there has been, and will continue to be, consolidation in the marketplace resulting in vendors being absorbed and/or ceasing to be. This is another valid point. Yet it set the tone for a session that repeatedly warned HR professionals to be very cautious about investing in talent management in the near term.
He went on to talk about service oriented architecture (SOA) being the new frontier of HR apps and he talked about the exciting possibilities of "ground-up" SOA applications like Workday, which ostensibly will enable rapid development, integration, extension and enhancement of HR applications. He talked of all the major ERP providers converting their apps to SOA within the next 24-36 months.
He went on to advise his audience that having an "all-in-one HRIS and talent management suite" would be more beneficial than having separate applications-- even if the functionality was inferior. He inferred the integration of separate solutions is extremely problematic.
So if I didn't know anything about HR technology and I sat in on this presentation my take-away would be "be very careful about implementing TM enabling applications. Wait until your ERP provider comes out with something and don't worry if it isn't as good as solutions by TM vendors who have been at it far longer than their ERP counterparts.”
This is where he lost me.
First of all, despite the relative risk of being an early adopter of talent management applications, the last thing HR needs to do at this point is sit back and NOT begin talent management application adoption. The benefits are clear, technology is a critical enabler and waiting makes no sense. That's what the SHRM audience needed to hear. The whole tone of the conference was trying to get HR out of the past and into the future.
Is it risky? A little. Yes, vendors may get absorbed or go out of business, but this has been the case for a dozen years in HR technology. With on-demand delivery, today your investment is lower up front, and if you need to switch, you will not have invested in perpetual licensing of an in-house system. This is the best time in years to begin implementing talent management technology, and simple, basic due diligence nearly negates any risk.
As for waiting for your HRIS vendor to convert to SOA and roll out new talent management apps so you can reap the benefits of native integration, HR needs to decide what their key drivers are and proceed accordingly. At the end of his talk, the speaker told his audience that they need to stop thinking of technology expenditures as "cost saving" and begin to sell them internally as "enhancing workforce effectiveness." This was the best point of the presentation.
However, if your drivers are to implement enabling technologies that will deliver a more effective workforce, what sense does it make to settle for clumsy solutions from vendors with little to no front office application expertise, and whose entire businesses are built on the premise of cost reduction? The mixed message is: Enhance your workforce, but make ease of data integration your key driver.
As for integration, the very nature of SOA can make it easier for companies to mix and match best of breed apps and tie them together through web services and XML. The nightmare of integrating HRIS and other apps has been hugely diminished in the last few years with the implementation of XML-based web services integrations. It simply isn't that problematic anymore.
At Cytiva / SonicRecruit, we facilitate these integrations routinely. We also have clients and prospective clients who succumb to the notion that they must use the recruiting module from their HRIS vendor in order to either ensure data integration or "get the most out of their existing relationship." I have not spoken to one HR professional who has gone with their HRIS' recruiting module over a best of breed vendor who had either an easy time or good results.
We had one client leave us and then come back when their resume flow diminished by 90% after implementing an Oracle recruiting solution. That's how bad the candidate interface was.
So while there is risk in purchasing talent management enabling technology, I would argue that you are at much greater risk purchasing from HRIS vendors with data integrity being your key driver.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Observations From the SHRM Conference
By Ian Alexander VP Marketing
Cytiva
The SonicRecruit team was out in force at the 59th annual SHRM Conference and Exposition in Las Vegas. As always the event was extremely well run and attendance was reported at well over 20,000 people. It was a great marketing event for the SonicRecruit product as we had a number of very interested prospects, and more than a few dis-satisfied clients of competitors who were looking to switch (it was primarily Vurv clients. Several of them).
I spent a fair amount of time on the exposition floor, less time at the sessions, gambling and at the pool, but here are my observations:
- It was hot. 110 degrees was the highest I saw.
- Jason Moreau enjoys the crap tables (in a responsible, albeit spirited, way).
- SonicRecruit has great clients. When you have a great product and you bend over backwards to serve your clients, it really shows at events like SHRM. Several clients came to our booth to say hi, meet people face to face, and talk about the product. Some of the visitors were: Huitt Zollars and Bonnie and Rosie from MannKind, Bert Guss from Old Castle Materials, Cindy Reeves, Ryan Vaughan, and others from Manpower, Hope McKinnis from the MacArthur Foundation, Terra Thornton from Jacobs Engineering, Yuni Navarro from Ocean Bank and members from the team at Document Technologies.
I sat in on a session called "Top Trends in HR Technology for 2007," presented by John Ryder. It was a very interesting session. Very good in some ways and somewhat misleading in others. I will comment on it in my next post.
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